Colours of the Festive Season

The month of July brings along more than just the rain – it marks the beginning of the most auspicious period of the year, a period dotted with festivals. The first of these is the Varalakshmi Puja, the south Indian equivalent of the Lakshmi Puja during Diwali. This is strictly a family festival, the right for performing the puja being handed over from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. I would love to give you a glimpse into the grand way we perform the puja at home, but unfortunately, we are in a period of mourning, and haven’t performed the puja for the last two years. Hopefully, the period will end this year, and we can get along with our festivals… Meanwhile, I accompanied my sister to buy the flowers required for the puja. Join us in our trip…..

The flower market at Dadar is certainly the most popular, the most crowded, and the place to be if you want fresh and wonderful flowers, at the best rates, of course…… Here is a photoblog of our journey…


Our very first halt - all sorts of  flowers.....

              

These are special.... we call them 'Manglore Malli' - literally, the jasmine from Mangalore..

... and I have no idea of the name of this one... my mom says they never wither......

The goddess is believed to like these pink flowers -  called 'Arali' in tamil..

Lotuses galore... pink and white....

Masses of roses..... of every hue...

A dash of pink.... against the green....

Now white and orange... my favourite flowers - Mogra and Aboli...those are the marathi names - the tamil ones are Malli and Kanakambaram....

Flowers of every colour.....

Neatly stacked in piles....

These are the flowers already tied up.....ready to be worn....... a temptation, no doubt, but too expensive today!!!!

A sample of what the market has to offer....

Here are the flowers tied up again, but now the marathi way.... Gajras....

Mounds and mounds of flowers of every colour....

The credit for the next photo goes to my sis.... she had a vantage point of course, thanks to her height....

And here is my sis herself...... haggling with the shopkeeper............

....choosing none but the best.......

Happy now, Kanthi????? Hope you like the pics......

And finally, garlands for the goddess..........

If you liked this post, the person you must thank is my sister, Kanthi... For once, she was the one bargaining and selecting the stuff while I went click-happy....